The recent COVID-19 pandemic has catalysed a new awareness of what living and working
spaces should look like from a different perspective, and healthier cities and architecture have arisen
because of inescapable public demand. Society has become clearly aware that there are still unhealthy
concentrations within its environment. Spaces in cities are still being built that can favour the spread
of diseases, in addition to using harmful construction materials. Living spaces must not only be
sustainable, functional, and aesthetically beautiful but also comfortable, safe, and accessible, and,
above all, they must be healthy. Healthy architecture has emerged as a new paradigm. This is
the subject area of this work. This paper describes and develops the nature of this concept and
proposes a novel definition of healthy architecture, aiming to compile state-of-the-art knowledge
with a qualitative empirical and multi-method process, using case studies. This article provides
a global perspective on new approaches and proposes a Decalogue with the basic principles that
an environment or building must comply with in order to be healthy. The main contribution is to
establish the basis for the creation of a new healthy architecture epistemology, focussing on cognitive,
emotional, and physiological stimuli. This paper can help health professionals, designers, and
architects, as well as companies and public administrations, to follow an innovative path in the
planning of healthier cities and buildings.
